Snapchat used by predator to meet vulnerable teenage girls

Luke Morgan Leon Burton was found to have driven down to Weymouth in Dorset and sat in a vehicle with a vulnerable girl in April last year who he had met following online.

Police seized the 34-year-old from Carterton’s mobile phone to carry out forensic examination of its contents.

The examinations, carried out by Dorset Police, uncovered Snapchat messages arranging to meet the teenage girl, as well as other underage girls and indecent images.

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Following an examination of the south coast force, Burton was charged and later pleaded guilty to five counts of possessing indecent images of category A and C, two counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity and one count of causing a child to watch a sexual act, sexual communication with a child and attempted sexual communication with a child.

Burton was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on Monday, May 18 to six years in prison.

He was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years and was placed on the sex offenders’ register for an indefinite period.

Detective sergeant Al Marks, of the police’s safeguarding hub, said: “Burton posed a serious risk to teenage girls and carried out his offending despite knowing how old his victims were.

“I am pleased that following our investigation, led by detective constable Lucy Johnson, we were able to bring Burton before the courts and stop his offending.”